Saturday, 23 November 2013

The Poor

It’s a simple but a moving ceremony in the
village square: Fregep the richest man there has decided to give away
his goods, his furniture and property, his gardens, grazing land and his
woods to the poor. Before distributing everything it was necessary to
make long inventories, study requests, ponder the merits and who were to
be the new owners of everything. Now the poor have grown discontented:
the only happy person is Fregep who walks amongst his beneficiaries with
the knowledge that he has carried out his duties asking each of them
what they were given, how they intend to use it and he even gives them
advice on the best ways to cultivat their land, since he knows their
land better than anyone else. The poor give look askance at him and fix
with an angry glare. They would spit in his face if it weren’t for the
fact that they are waiting for the registration of transfer deeds.

Fregep has no relatives: a few months have gone by and the poor,
who inexplicably have remained poor, now send him away. Fregep has
begun to sleep in the clefts of old walls or underneath bridges. He
carries with him a dented soup-plate and asks for alms. He asks the rich
because the poor have remained poor. He has a dog and when it’s cold
they sleep huddled up together so as to keep warm.

Little by little even Fregep is becoming a dog: his down covers
his body and a large tail sprouts at the back. He no longer thinks of
anything, at times he runs after a mangy bitch or steals the butchers
sausages. However, he has a clear sense of gratitude and loves licking
the hand of the poor who kick him. Wagging his tail, he distributes with
his tongue every sort of illness amongst the children of the poor. The
children die and are carried to the cemetery in their poor man’s chests.
Fregep and another dog, a friend of his, follow the cortege, at a
distance.

About Me

My interests include Soviet/Russian (as well as post-Soviet) film, world cinema, Soviet/Russian literature,Argentinian literature,radical thought, history. The works of Juan Rodolfo Wilcock, Dino Campana, Cesar Vallejo, Roberto Arlt and the philosophy of Evald Ilyenkov and the works of many, many others. I have a twitter account @GiulianoVivaldi where smaller news is added and a Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/GiuVivRussianFilm For any interested in events surrounding the 40th anniversary of Pasolini's murder and exploring the Italian 1970s, please join the Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Pasolinianni70/